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Turkey says it has shot down Syrian fighter jet for violating its airspace
- Attack in border region where Syrian rebels are battling Assad’s forces
- Turkish PM: ‘If you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard’
- Rebels have been fighting for control of Kasab crossing since Friday
By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE
PUBLISHED: 14:05 GMT, 23 March 2014 | UPDATED: 14:09 GMT, 23 March 2014
Turkey’s armed forces shot down a Syrian fighter jet today after it crossed into Turkish airspace.
The attack on the plane – from which the pilot ejected – happened in a border region where Syrian rebels have been battling President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
‘A Syrian plane violated our airspace,’ Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an election rally of his supporters in north-west Turkey.

War-torn country: Smoke rises after the Free Syrian army fighters targeted buildings where forces loyal to the Syrian regime resided, activists said in Sheikh Najjar in Aleppo on Thursday
‘Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard.’
He added: ‘I congratulate the chief of general staff, the armed forces and those honourable pilots… I congratulate our air forces.’
Was the Syrian airplane in Turkish airspace or not?
Where is the evidence? Erdogan is in election mode and probably looking for any excuse to divert attention from his domestic record.
So I’m a little skeptical about the allegation of violating Turkish air space.